Stemming from the American Society of Clinical Oncology gathering in Chicago, it will be difficult not to give into the optimism that is cancer research these days. In conjunction with significant investment from the White House and beyond, the frontier of cancer treatment has never looked so promising.

The scientific enterprise is something of a paradox. Science moves incrementally, and the status quo is preferred to radical new ideas. Yet, simultaneously, creativity is encouraged, but scientists who become too creative can become outcasts. Let’s consider a few of those here.

Motivating people to increase their activity requires helping them overcome what they perceive as barriers to doing so. And, researchers from Dartmouth College found, those barriers will differ according to weight class.

Julianna joined the ACSH team in April. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from Tufts University, School of Medicine in 2008 followed by a post-doc at MIT, working with C. elegans. She is currently an Assistant Professor in NY.

It should come as no surprise that Prince, who was rumored to be addicted to oxycodone, died from an overdose. But it was not oxycodone that killed him. It was fentanyl, perhaps the deadliest drug ever to hit the streets.

California's Proposition 65 list is a quintessential example of government bureaucracy gone berserk. It contains 900+ chemicals that the state declares are carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Anything that is made with, or contains any of these, now carries a ridiculous warning sticker. Should penises also be labeled? That makes far more sense than much of the rest of the law.

In a state where there are more pain management clinics than McDonald’s restaurants, Florida seems to be the epicenter of the prescription painkiller addiction epidemic. In response, the Sunshine State has been enacting laws, which have helped to more closely monitor drug distribution and combat the problem.

AIDS has killed 34 million people around the world. Of the critical sequential steps that are necessary for HIV to replicate, one of them requires a single molecule of water. In the absence this one molecule, HIV would not exist.

While the ongoing issue for many world-class athletes -- specifically, whether to participate in the upcoming Olympics -- comes into sharper focus, we keep hearing from those who are unsettled by the idea of heading into Brazil's Zika hot zone. And with the news that a major league pitcher has recently contracted the virus, the drumbeat for athletes to potentially skip the Summer Games is getting louder. But if they take precautions, should they?

Most people have been conditioned to fear chemicals, but the typical fear is not consistent with the actual risk. The vast majority of chemicals that are encountered in everyday life are quite safe. But, when your profession is chemistry, that changes fast. Here is one example.